


in the house of the rising sun

by emmmabear



Category: Penny Dreadful (TV)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Multi, just let her greive, malcom can go die idgaf, pain and suffering, sembene is a good dad, the ships are there if you squint, vanessa is really sad her gf is dead ok, victor and ethan really care about their sister/bff they just suck at showing it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 08:36:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11551512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmmabear/pseuds/emmmabear
Summary: The Murray House is not old, not ancient like the other buildings and monuments of London that stretch back hundreds of years. It is relatively new, built specifically for Sir Malcolm Murray and whatever lost souls he chooses to surround himself with. The house is new, but it has seen horror and miracles and all number of supernatural entities.Vanessa thinks she is quite like the house.Or,Vanessa, and grief.





	in the house of the rising sun

**i.**

They bury Mina in the rain.

Vanessa hates it. Mina was sunshine and laughter and the world should be shining, the sun should be glowing in remembrance of this beautiful creature that was Mina Murray.

But then, perhaps the rain is fitting. It is not a violent thunderstorm as London is prone too, but a silent, almost gentle downpour. As though the world is softly mourning, its tears raining from the heavens as the dove white coffin that holds her is lowered into the ground.

She feels a hand touch her shoulder only once during the ceremony, warm, strong, alive, but fleeting. She thinks she should be grateful Ethan came at all, as he knew Mina Murray only as a creature of the night, red eyes and vampire smile and lips against Vanessa's throat. But here he is, dressed in somber black as her dearest friend is buried. Even more surprising is Victor, standing silently and supportively beside her, his gaunt face devoid of emotion but his eyes sorrowful.

Malcolm weeps. Vanessa does not. Crying cannot express the deep and ancient grief that moves within her, the regret and despair that she prays will not consume her entirely.

(Not that her prayers do much good as of late.)

After it is over and Ethan and Victor have both left, She finds herself standing next to Sembene. He does not speak, but the silence is comforting. He puts a gentle arm around her, as though this action will protect her from the pain and suffering of this world. Malcolm kneels at the grave, but she cannot find it in herself to approach him. Instead, she and Sembene leave, back to the house, or perhaps to nowhere at all.

It is all she can do not to run from the place where darling Mina, dearest Mina, dead Mina lies amongst the soil and the earth

**ii.**

Growing up, there always seemed to be a surplus of nagging maids and nannies always hanging about. Vanessa and Peter detested them and enjoyed pulling pranks and making their working lives a hell to no end. Mina, however, tolerated them better than the other two and even had a favorite, a plumpish, honey-sweet mother of four by the name of Poppy. Poppy’s fifth child had been delivered a stillborn when they were about thirteen, and Vanessa remembered her telling a tearful and empathetic Mina that the easiest way to get over your grief is to bury yourself in routine.

Vanessa’s routine, despite her adamantly telling herself that she had not taken that old nanny's advice, came surprisingly to both recipients in the autumn following the funeral.

Dr. Victor Frankenstein had taken to calling at the Murray House, where Vanessa would meet him, and they would start off on a long walk through the city. Sometimes they would end up at the grave, other times they simply wandered through the cobbled streets. Victor was quiet and nervous by nature, but he was an excellent listener, and quite snarky when he was feeling more comfortable. Vanessa had found a friend, someone who she could confide in and someone who could simply distract her.

He was like Peter in so many ways that sometimes Vanessa would stop and stare at him, at his mannerisms that so greatly mirrored a dead boy in Africa. But he was also nothing like him, he held a darkness and a pain greater than Peter ever did, and in that way she and he were alike. Victor was a wayward younger brother, and Vanessa felt very lucky that they called upon his services when they did.

**iii.**

Victor tells her one day as they are walking arm in arm past the tower bridge that Ethan Chandler is back in the city. Or perhaps he had never left, and simply was taking refuge in the shadows. She does not miss the flush in his cheeks at the words, or more the subject, and grins to herself.

**iv.**

She thinks of Mina constantly. Sometimes it is the child she remembers, clad in a white nightgown huddled next to her when thunder and lightening prowled outside the mansion. Other times it is a slightly more grown up Mina she remembers, a pink thing, rose gold, and cheeks reddened as she tells Vanessa while they sit in the labyrinth that they should practice kissing, so they can be ready for their husbands when the time comes, of course.

It is only at night when the moon is full and the empty streets whisper to her that she thinks of the tortured soul that was her friend. The help me Vanessa, help me help me help me, but she can't, Vanessa can't, she couldn't save her. She tried, god she tried, but _I was too late I'm sorry Mina forgive me Mina come back to me Mina I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry_

(There is another Mina that comes to her on occasion. This is the Mina that scares her the most. Beautiful, red-lipped , hooded eyed Mina who calls Vanessa like a siren to her, to her beauty and love and darkness and Vanessa wants, oh god she wants, but the dream has ended and Mina is gone, the blood dripping onto her white dress, tainted.

She tells no one of this Mina. She is scared of what they will say, what they will think of her.

Of course, there is another who delights in these thoughts, who feeds on them. Vanessa is never truly alone, after all. )

**v.**

She loses track of time after the funeral. Sembene is concerned for her, and at his request Victor and Ethan both hurry to the house one day and find that Vanessa has not left her room for three days. The two men pass Malcolm in the drawing room, and the tension s the air is palpable. Victor looks down with clenched fists, but Ethan stares him down completely still, like a wolf with its prey in its sights. Malcolm knows that they blame him for Vanessa's depression, and for Mina, and for conceivably anything else. He is glad for it.

Ethan moves up the stairs and finds the door slightly ajar. Vanessa is on the floor in front of her bed, and she is praying. She does not sense him there, or if she does she makes no sign of greeting. He leaves her there, his footsteps heavy with the kind of grief of having a person you care for be unreachable to you, uncurable. Victor meets him at the stairs and allows Ethan to clasp his shoulder as he descends.

When Victor arrives home, he starts gathering vitamin and protein supplements.

**vi.**

She sees Dorian once in a while, the top of his head as he gets into a coach, the flick of his coat as he rounds the corner ahead of her. She does not call out to him. She could, but she does not. He is not worth the trouble, she thinks. He has served his purpose.

She does not think of that night, nor the nights following. She does not think of what was inside her. Instead, she wonders when she will be simply a shadow of a memory to him, as so many have before her.

(It will not occur for quite a long while)

**vii.**

There is a black cat that sits across the street from the Murray house. Vanessa sees it on occasion, when she peers out her window at the world below. At first she thought it had to be an omen. Of death, most likely. Or perhaps a witch's familiar, though she was unaware of such a person of magic in London. Or perhaps it is simply just a black cat, an ordinary feline that has chosen its place of residence in the smoky shadows of their street.

Unfortunately, Vanessa couldn't believe that if she tried.She starts going out alone, on errands, to get some fresh air, but mostly to see the cat. It always slinks just out of sight when she approaches it, but catches her gaze haughtily. Vanessa decides that this ominous creature should have a name, and she settles on Ammon, the ancient egyptian word for mystery. It is quite fitting, she thinks, and when she calls the cat by this name one night the cat’s tail flicks, in an action Vanessa takes as consent.

Victor shakes his sardonically when she tells him of her new friend, and Ethan merely laughs and remarks “I’m more of a dog person myself”.

Ammon lounges outside the door each night now, and Vanessa is glad for the constant, for the mystetious black cat that gaurds her home.

**viii.**

_I miss you Mina. I will never stop missing you. But I will stop mourning you. You would have wanted me to be happy, even after all I did to you. So I will try my best, my darling. I will try._

**ix.**

Grandage Place is not old, not ancient like the other buildings and monuments of London that stretch back hundreds of years. It is relatively new, built specifically for Sir Malcolm Murray and whatever lost souls he chooses to surround himself with. The house is new, but it has seen horror and miracles and all number of supernatural entities.

Vanessa thinks she is quite like the house.

They are both young, but have seen the face and felt the hands of God and The Devil and all who follow them, and in so have become old souls, weathered and hardened by grief and terror and fighting. It is a comfort to her, this vast and evocative house, for she knows that no matter how hard whatever demons and angels and scum of the earth try to wear it down, it will still stand. It's stance will be solemn, and unquestionably painful, but it will remain nonetheless.

Vanessa thinks she is quite like the house.

**Author's Note:**

> My poor screwed up victorian children someone pls help them they have so many problems
> 
> I honestly have so many ships in this show but these are the ones that decide to immerse themselves in this fic???? Like honestly I ship ethan with at least three ppl 
> 
> Anyway they're all gay try and stop me


End file.
